The primary sources of the Smithsonian document the history of art, culture, music, design, flight, space exploration, science and technology, landscapes and gardens, and native cultures in the United States, as well as the long history of the Smithsonian itself.

Discover archival collections related by topic and/or by names of persons, families, businesses, and organizations regardless of where the collection lives within the incredibly vast resources of the Smithsonian.

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Finding Aids

Archival finding aids, also sometimes called collection guides, are the key to unlocking information in SOVA. Each unique archival collection has a finding aid that provides the user with varying levels of descriptive detail about the collection, such as creator, biographical or historical note, content, subjects, names, forms of materials, how the collection is arranged, the context in which the collection was created, related collections in individual repositories and across the Smithsonian, provenance, where the collection is housed, and how to access the collection. Digitized content from each collection is also accessed via links provided in the collection's finding aid.

Finding aids are essential research and discovery tools that will help you understand the content and context of an individual collection and whether that collection will satisfy your research needs.

The papers of artist and art patron Dorothea A. Dreier measure 2.6 linear feet and date from 1881-1941, with the bulk of the material dating from 1887-1923. The papers document the life and work of Dorothea Dreier and also contain the papers of and about members of her immediate family, particularly her sisters, Mary and Katherine Dreier, and Margaret Dreier Robins. Found are correspondence, printed materials, legal and financial records, photographs, and one sketchbook by Dreier.

This collection consists of pamphlets, books, and a wide variety of printed matter and ephemera relating to HIV/AIDS. The collection was principally assembled by National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution curator Ramunas Kondratas.

Sam DeVincent loved music and art and began collecting sheet music with lithographs at an early age.
Series 7: Sports contains 1,254 pieces of sheet music and song folios. Most of the sheet music is either piano or piano/ vocal arrangements.
An overview to the entire DeVincent collection is available here: Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music.

Materials in this record unit were donated to the Archives by Lucile Quarry Mann and the National Zoological Park between 1977 and 1988. During 1980 and 1981, Lucile
Mann narrated the 16mm motion picture on audiotape with scripts by Pamela M. Henson, Oral Historian. In 1985, the motion picture was transferred to a 3/4" videotape and the
t...

This accession consists of the website for the Smithsonian Institution Science Commission as it existed on July 9, 2013. The commission was established on May 7, 2001
to set priorities for scientific research across the Smithsonian Institution. The final report was issued on January 7, 2003 after which the website was no longer updated.
T...

This accession consists of records documenting Twitter accounts maintained throughout the Smithsonian Institution (SI). Twitter is a third-party site used for public
micro-blogging by SI staff. In addition to general SI-wide accounts this accession includes accounts maintained by individual museums and administrative and programmatic units
...

This accession consists of the Smithsonian Congress of Scholars website as it existed on July 10, 2013. The Congress of Scholars is an organization composed of representatives
from all Smithsonian Institution museums and units that carry out scholarly research. Its goal is to enhance communications among scholarly staff across the Institution ...

In 1792-1797, Alexander Smith, a merchant living in Alexandria, Va., kept a record of dry goods purchased and sold. Most of the 1797 correspondence is copies of his letters to other merchants. Of particular interest is a letter dated 9 November 1796, from Smith to George Washington concerning Smith's loan repayment. Washington's response of 14 Nove...

A New York bookseller, Warshaw assembled this collection over nearly fifty years. The Warshaw Collection of Business Americana: Paper Products forms part of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Subseries 1.1: Subject Categories. The Subject Categories subseries is divided into 470 subject categories based on those created by Mr. Warshaw. These subject categories include topical subjects, types or forms of material, people, organizations, historical events, and other categories. An overview to the entire Warshaw collection is available here: Warshaw Collection of Business Americana